Abe back as prime minister

Monday

Dec 17, 2012 at 12:01 AMDec 17, 2012 at 12:03 PM

TOKYO - The conservative party that dominated postwar Japan is back in power after a three-year absence, in a landslide election victory yesterday that will return hawkish Shinzo Abe as prime minister.

TOKYO — The conservative party that dominated postwar Japan is back in power after a three-year absence, in a landslide election victory yesterday that will return hawkish Shinzo Abe as prime minister.

Abe, 58, who served in the post once before, is likely to pursue a tougher stance toward China and prevent the nation from abandoning nuclear energy.

The conservative Liberal Democratic Party was projected by NHK Television to win 291 of 480 seats in Japan’s lower house, while its ally, the New Komeito Party, had 30. That would give them the two-thirds majority needed to overrule the upper house, perhaps breaking deadlocks that have long stymied Japanese governments.

The Liberal Democrats held a near-monopoly on power in Japan from 1955 to 2009, when they were beaten by the Democratic Party of Japan. This time, the Democratic Party was projected to win only 56 seats. Prime Minister Yoshiko Noda resigned as head of the party last night, hours after the polls closed.

The Liberal Democrats’ return could heighten tensions over contested islands that have become a lightning rod for nationalist outbursts in Asia. Abe supports revisions in Japan’s post-World War II constitution to loosen limits on the military.

“A good Japan-China relationship is in the national interest for both countries. Both sides need to recognize that. I think there is a problem that China lacks that understanding,” Abe told Japanese television.